Many people seem to feel that the only setting on a digital camera is the “Auto” setting and that everything else is just so much technical stuff they don’t need to bother about. While this will generally produce good photos, there will be times when faded colors, shadows and reflections, among other things can ruin what would otherwise be a great picture. There are times when taking control of the camera makes sense and here are a few basic digital photography techniques that will help you to over some common problems.

A common problem with digital cameras is having colors that look faded or lack warmth – this is caused by the white balance auto setting. When the white balance is on auto the camera automatically adjusts the color balance to create what the software installed in it says are the best color tones and when taking pictures in bright sunlight this can mean that the camera thinks that rich colors are over saturation and compensates. If you find this problem, change the setting from “Auto” to “Cloudy” – this will change the white balance setting and the camera will record deeper colors and richer tones.

Those who do a lot of landscape photography will benefit from the use of a polarizing filter that will increase the contrast resulting in sharper images – most digital camera accept a filter and make any adjustments that may be required automatically. The filter will also increase the color saturation and produce crisper colors – something you will immediately notice in the blueness of the sky. To get the best effects from the filter, keep the sun over your shoulder so that the light is falling directly on what you are photographing.

Shadows can ruin a composition and one way out of this problem is to use a flash even when taking picture outdoors in sunlight. Advanced digital camera will calculate the background exposure and will then add only enough flash to compensate for the difference light caused by the shadows. Since the flash will not work if the camera thinks that it will result in over exposure, this is a problem you do not have to worry about. Even if yours is a camera without automatic flash compensation, try using the flash when you feel it will help with the shadow problem – experience will soon tell you when and how to use the flash.